7on7 Christina Schmidt

When she’s not seeking out magical leopluradons so she can find her way to Candy Mountain, she’s busy taking awesome ultimate photos and bringing a fun filled season of goaltimate near you.

What is your current role in the AFDC?
I like to call myself the mayor of Goaltytown. It’s a land of sweets and joy and joyness. My more boring title is Goaltimate Director—I basically oversee all AFDC goalty leagues throughout the year and commission Winter Goalty directly.

What are you looking to accomplish within the next year and how do you plan to go about it?
I’d like to become a billionaire. In the event that doesn’t happen, I hope to continue spreading a love of goalty throughout the AFDC. Since I took over as Goalty Director, I’ve looked for ways to facilitate increased participation while maximizing player enjoyment and keeping the door open for innovative ideas. This spring, based on an idea developed by the Fall Goalty Commish Holly Symolon and implemented by Spring Goalty Commish Nick Brown, we’ll be testing out a rotating pod system (or as we like to refer to it—a rotating gaggle system) which will give everyone the chance to play with everyone else over the course of the season and mitigate attendance issues from week to week. It’ll be interesting and different and hopefully a blast. Additionally, Holly is also looking into putting on a post Summer League co-ed goalty tournament for all those goalty starved people in late summer. There will be no shortage of awesome goalty opportunities in 2014.

Why did you decide to get involved?
The AFDC is an awesome community that has made my life much richer and enjoyable. It’s impossible to express how much gratitude I have for the people who make up our community and the innumerable ways in which they have helped me over the years. It seems only natural to give back, as well as pay forward, all that goodwill by volunteering.

More specifically, I was introduced to goalty a handful of years ago and became instantly hooked—it played to my strong suits and gave me a new form of Ultimate to attack and master. I love all the variety it brings—the different throws and crazy angles for scoring, as well as the rapid fire nature of the game. It’s just fun, and I wanted to share that love for the game with other people. Roughly three or four years ago I started pushing for regular co-ed pickup games and established the first ever Atlanta women’s goalty tournament hosted every spring. The next step was to put my energy into the AFDC goalty leagues. And here I am with two seasons of Winter Goalty under my belt. It’s not always an easy job trying to keep everyone happy, but I know my efforts are appreciated. I heart goalty!!!

What is your craziest AFDC story?
All my AFDC stories are crazy–you’re doing it wrong if they’re not! Perhaps somewhat tangential to AFDC, I think my favorite story is winning SMUT, a mixed tournament in Knoxville, a few years ago with an awesome assortment of players who I’d met over the course of a few years of leagues in the AFDC. Playing as the illustrious and storied Ah, Fudge, we showed up late, drank entirely too much, nearly got kicked out of the hotel, and came away with first place, as well as a trophy and a sweet motivational poster. There wasn’t a moment that weekend where I didn’t have fun. The next year, we did it all over again and got the double-peat. Last year was cancelled…so, I think that means Ah, Fudge is due to vie for the Triple Crown this year! I hear that’s kind of a big deal these days.

And now that you’ve got me thinking…I feel like I need to add the time with did a zombie GoTW theme with both teams. Oh, and baby monkey…backwards on a pig…yeah, definitely that.

What type of shenanigans do you get into outside of ultimate?
My other great passion is taking photos (…of Ultimate). Sometimes I take non-Ultimate photos too! Other than that I love the outdoors, the company of good friends, and music. My shenanigan days are probably mostly behind me, but I do occasionally dabble in some tomfoolery.

There’s a kitten stuck up in a tree. Only you can help it and all you have is the contents in your frisbee bag. What do you do?
First, pull out my phone and snapchat several friends–kittens are so adorable even if they’re stuck in a tree! Second, call my boyfriend…I mean, fiancee, Ryan Gosling. He’ll know what to do.

And finally, what do you most love about the AFDC?
The hugs. All the awesome hugs. That and Matt Freeman’s dog, Sam. He’s the bestest.